13 Airbnb Homes That Look Straight Out Of Fairytales

Some Airbnb homes don't just offer a place to stay; they can make you feel like you stepped right into a fairytale. With imposing stone turrets, romantic winding staircases, lush cottage gardens, and ivy-covered doors, these Airbnbs are destinations in themselves. From real historical castles to Hobbit-inspired hideaways, we've rounded up some stunning Airbnbs that capture the charm and escapism of fairytales. Drawing inspiration from these vacation homes, we've also included some Airbnb design ideas you can use in your own home, so you can emulate their storybook feel.

What makes a home fairytale-like? Architectural and decorative details that feel whimsical, magical, and historical are a good start. These homes have fantastical and antique elements that look otherworldly. Cozy textures like wood, stone, and thick fabrics feature heavily in these homes, along with ornate patterns, trinkets, and other adornments. Whether you're planning a once-in-a-lifetime trip or seeking design inspiration, these Airbnbs show that magic can be found in unlikely places. Here are some cottages, castles, and villas to inspire your next trip or your upcoming home renovation, whichever comes first.

Inspired by "The Hobbit," the Hobbit Inn in Washington looks like a home plucked out of this epic tale. It's very fantasy-coded, drawing architectural inspiration from the famous book and films. Even if you aren't familiar with the Shire, this humble home feels like a nature-inspired retreat. The structure is built into a hillside and almost looks like a part of the landscape, with plenty of wood and stone elements and a curved roof covered in grass. In particular, the circular green door is associated with hobbit homes and makes the exterior look whimsical. Curves continue throughout the home, often accented with rustic wood, creating an organic and cozy space. Standout features that create an enchanting ambiance include several curved doorways, archways, and windows, the cordwood floor, and the statement curved stone fireplace.

It's no surprise that circles are the inspiration to take from this home. Adding circular openings or installing cordwood flooring are major renovations, but they can be worth it for how transformative they can be. It can be easier to take some of these ideas outside; for example, adding a DIY wood round garden path or circular garden arch (like the Safavieh Round Garden Arch) is a smaller project for a Hobbit-inspired garden. Even more low-effort (but also less eye-catching) is to incorporate rustic, circular decor. Items like the Barrel Dreams Wall Decor and the Gloweer Antique Round Chandelier match closely with the circular decor and lighting in this Airbnb. Another idea is to choose round tables, like a large wooden circular dining table or a barrel side table, like this Mystic Barrels End Table.

The Peaceful Mountaintop Shiloh in Georgia is another Airbnb built into a hillside, with half of the building backing up into a leafy knoll. Natural elements also extend across the home: it has a grassy roof and a rock feature on its side. Interior stone walls, plant walls, and plenty of wood beams and shelves bring these elements indoors. Stone features really stand out in the interior and exterior of this home. It also takes advantage of rounded features to add whimsy, like the arched doorways and the circular windows bordered by rocks.

This Airbnb shows how incorporating nature into architecture can make a home feel right out of a fairytale. The green roof is a distinctive feature. Making one is quite a big project, and if it's not suitable for the main structure, consider trying it on a secondary building, like a separate garage, guesthouse, or garden office. Stone walls and plant walls are also an excellent option, indoors or out. This building has stone landscaping in the yard, stone walls around an outdoor shower, a stone fire pit area, and a stone accent wall inside. The rough-hewn material is noticeably imperfect, making this home feel like a cabin among rocky crags. Consider installing similar stone elements to get the look at home.

Creating plant walls, indoors or outdoors, also really brings a natural element, but with more softness compared to stone. You can use the real thing to create living walls (there are several plants that can help you create a stunning living wall indoors). It's possible to buy premade panels, too, like this Moss Fusion Moss Art piece. Or, if you don't have much of a green thumb, maybe you'll want to go faux, like with these Odtory Artificial Plant Wall Panels.

Does it get more fairytale than staying in a castle? The Historic Goulding Castle in Missouri offers this distinctive experience to lucky visitors. The building is a restored castle, originally built in the 1800s. It's small and tower-like, but still has plenty of notable features, like its stone walls, arched windows and doorways, and crenellations along the top of the building. The interior is on-theme too, with a few stained glass windows, rustic tile and brick flooring, and dark wood furnishings, though it also has some contemporary furniture and decor that modernize the space.

Homeowners can draw inspiration from the variety of antique-style fixtures in this Airbnb, many of which look like they belong in a fairytale castle. In terms of lighting, the interior has vintage-style wall sconces, hanging lights, and chandeliers, all of which suit the building's castle origin. Many rooms feature candelabra chandeliers, which create a more traditional and historical look. Options today, like the Abigeal Candle Style Classic Chandelier, use candle bulbs instead of a real flame. Details like the rustic oven and the copper freestanding tub are other castle-like details that you can incorporate at home: they can really make a kitchen or bathroom feel like it's from another time and place.

This 30-acre castle retreat in California instantly captures attention with its distinctive shape. It has a large, curved roof and a turret to create a castle-like silhouette. However, this is a more contemporary home, with shingle siding. The shape of the building shows how rounded and irregular designs can create whimsy and make a building look storybook-ready, even with more modern materials. Plenty of interior details also add to the fairytale look, like rustic wood beams, a stone accent wall, and stained glass windows.

Of particular note are the spiral staircase and the cobbled-together brick nook with an old-fashioned fireplace. If you're undergoing a renovation, there are two fairytale features to consider adding to your home. A spiral staircase is a big project that requires professional help, but it makes any interior look more romantic. The brick nook with a fireplace is more DIY-friendly; it's possible to install a DIY brick feature wall using interior brick veneer. Choose bricks with irregular shapes to get the cobbled look, which creates a more playful, cottage-inspired ambiance. A real wood-burning stove like the Hart Enjoy Life Cast Iron Fireplace can add irresistible charm to the space. However, an easier-to-use electric heater like the Duraflame Electric Fireplace Stove Heater can still bring lots of coziness with no installation requirements.

This Bavarian Castle in Vermont could easily be the home of a fairytale princess. The Bavarian-style castle architecture is dramatic, enchanting, and romantic. With multiple turrets, it shares some traits with Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle. Stonework and exposed exterior beams make it feel like it can belong in a medieval folk tale. These beams continue through the interior of the house, along with tasteful stonework that brings this medieval style into the present.

The prominent beams are a notable architectural feature inside. Real wood beams are pricier and harder to install, but worthwhile if you really want the real thing. It's possible to DIY faux ceiling beams to get the look without as much hassle. Or, you can buy pre-made faux wood beams like the Ekena Millwork Faux Wood Beam. The small stone details on the interior walls in this home are also notable: they recall medieval stone walls, but without overwhelming the space with the roughness and darkness of stone. It's a nice touch on the highly textured white walls, providing a heritage detail in a modernized space. 

The Cob Cottage in Mayne Island, Canada, is a quirkier home that's all uneven curves, giving it a very whimsical look. There's actually hardly a straight line in the architectural details, from the roof to the balcony, to the windows. From outside, this house looks a bit like a mushroom, which suits the rainy, temperate forest it's located in on the west coast of Canada. The woodsy design continues indoors: it's the main material in the house, with the wood-paneled ceiling, curved wood staircase, and wood kitchen. Curves feature throughout the interior too in the form of rounded wood beams, arched doorways and windows, and curved counters and shelves.

This home reminds us that asymmetrical designs can feel very charming and whimsical, in some ways, serving as an antidote to modern interiors and geometric, symmetrical shapes. Don't always assume you have to make things even or match in a home. This home also shows the potential of curves, a simple but understated shape that can make a home feel like a fantasy. Whether it's in creating an archway, opting for curved windows, beams, or railings, adding a rounded chiminea or fireplace, or choosing curved furniture and shelving, lots of rounded shapes make a home feel playful and soft.

Victoria Drummond Tower in Drogheda, Ireland, is a real 1858 folly tower (does it get more romantic?). It's a true historical structure, which makes it a distinctive Airbnb rental for a one-of-a-kind vacation. It's a traditional castle tower shape, made of imposing stone, and with crenellations around the top. The unpainted stone walls continue throughout the interior, so it's fully rustic, not modernized like many Airbnbs. The stone elements are mixed with a lot of wood for a cozy, old-world ambiance. Brick arch details around windows and doors are a nice touch that warms up the space. 

Using a lot of stone in a home's interior can make the indoors look fantastical and fairytale-inspired by making it look like the interior of a medieval castle. In particular, use rougher, irregularly shaped, and large stones to create a patchwork wall that looks handcrafted. There are a few ways to go about including it in your home. Of course, real stone interior walls are beautiful, but not a realistic renovation for many. Another way to add the material is to install a stone fireplace. For a less permanent option, a faux stone wall can make a moody accent, and a product like the GenStone Faux Stone Siding Panel can help recreate the look.

This 10th-century Medieval Castle in Llaés, Spain, is another historical castle that features the elements you'd expect from a 10th-century building. Designed in the Romanesque style, it features traditional stone walls, dark wood beams, and very old-fashioned furnishings. The building is almost entirely stone throughout, and they've kept its natural color (avoiding painting it white, like so many refurbished spaces), so it maintains a very rustic medieval look. The furniture keeps to the old-world theme; most of it is made of wood, complete with ornate details. The castle's position atop a hill is absolutely dreamy, creating the perfect view for a fairytale stay.

This Airbnb's location in Spain, which has a warmer climate, gives it a slightly different aesthetic than many castles on this list. It feels warmer than other similar buildings on this list, a bit sunnier to match the balmy weather. To get a similar aesthetic, consider using yellow, orange, and red color palettes to warm up an interior. After all, gray stone and dark wood can make a room feel cold aesthetically, which might suit a castle in the snowy mountains, but not a vineyard estate in warmer regions. This house takes fairytale-inspired elements like heavy stonework, prominent wood beams, and traditional wood furniture, but also includes lighter, orangey floor tile colors, red and yellow walls, and a yellow ceiling peeking between wood beams to make the interior look more sun-kissed.

The Castle in the Forest in Skyforest truly looks like a fairytale mansion. It's another home with eye-catching castle elements like large arched windows and turrets. A standout feature is the multi-story windows that look into the high-ceilinged living room. Their size makes the home feel stately, and the Gothic arch shapes give it traditional character. This is no modest building: it's a grand home that looks fit for royalty. However, its tucked-away location, nestled in a forested canyon, makes it feel like a place a storybook character would stumble upon.

To create a feeling of grandeur, this home features lots of floor-to-ceiling elements, like the windows in the foyer spaces, tall fireplace paneling, floor-to-ceiling wood paneling, and a tall gallery wall. The high ceilings help to make this look more striking, but at its core, the idea is to fill the interior space to the top. Whether it's with traditional wood paneling or a built-in bookshelf, decorating vertically can make interiors feel more grand and elegant, suitable for a royal fairytale protagonist.

The setting and exterior of this Royal Apartment on Seaside Estate in Portpatrick, the United Kingdom, are straight out of a storybook. This building is a gorgeous old-fashioned estate home, set on manicured grounds with stories-tall climbing ivy. While the concrete building itself is quite plain, the gardens are beautifully kept in a traditional English style. Most notably, a lot of attention is paid to the interior furnishings, with real antique pieces used to create a historic English estate home look.

Not all of us can live in a country manor, but we can emulate the luxe English countryside interior of this home. It really elevates a space if you can source real antiques and keep original fixtures: this Airbnb has the original castle floors, a spiral staircase, and some antique beds. Furnishing with antique or handmade furniture feels more genuine and one-of-a-kind (a fairytale probably doesn't have Amazon or IKEA).

In this home, an abundance of traditional patterns also contributes to the antique, storybook look. With the huge variety of rugs, wallpapers (including peel-and-stick for renters), wall art, bedding, curtains, and upholstered furniture available nowadays, there are lots of chances to add pattern in a home. Include multiple patterned elements in a room to get a maximalist, layered look.

The 16th-century Tudor Manor in Bramley, the United Kingdom, is another historical home, which automatically gives it a storybook feel. This half-timber Tudor house dates back to the 16th century, and with its typical exposed, dark wood beams on the exterior, it's not hard to imagine a character like Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" reading in this home. Oak beams and paneling also feature heavily inside, along with solid wood furniture, making it feel very much like a home from olden times.

This Tudor manor highlights the power of dark woods to make a home feel like a fairytale setting, whether it's Tudor-style timber beams on the outside, ceiling beams throughout this house, wood paneling on walls, or traditional wood furniture pieces. Pretty much every picture in this house features several wood elements in deep, rich colors—this is a main feature of Tudor decor, which is generally good inspiration for a fairytale home. If you like this aesthetic, try decorating your home's interior according to the Tudor style. If it's not possible to add elements like wood paneling, you can opt for a creative and quirky alternative, like building a Tudor-style shed out back.

The Thatched Cottage in Newbury, the United Kingdom, is an idyllic English countryside home that belongs in a storybook. The thatched roof is its most eye-catching feature that adds a lot of charm to an otherwise plain brick structure. The country garden around this home also really shines: it's an overgrown cottage garden with winding paths, ivy trailing along brick walls, and arches covered in flowers. 

This Airbnb offers wonderful garden inspiration, showing how abundant nature around a home can add charm. There's no need for a sprawling estate either. To recreate a similar garden, use arched trellises and add a curved and slightly weathered stone or wood path. Grow climbing plants and let them trail up buildings, tree trunks, or trellises. A water feature makes the space extra magical: a natural-looking backyard pond is lovely, but you can also choose a rustic fountain if building a pond is too big a project.

The Antique apartment in a XV-century castle in Montreux, Switzerland, is the most palatial Airbnb on this list, fit for a royal fairytale princess. Set in a 15th-century castle, it's traditional, sumptuous, and ornate, with touches you would expect in a royal estate. The interior really shines, with luxurious furniture, ornate chandeliers, gilded mirrors, detailed wood carvings, opulent wood paneling, and heavy drapery and curtains.

Lean into the royalcore or castlecore aesthetic to get a similar look. If it's in the budget, installing wood paneling and getting traditional high-end wood furniture can make a space look worlds more regal. On a more modest budget, consider thrifting traditional furniture. Focus on larger pieces like a solid wood bed or dining set. Other cheaper and smaller updates include adding antique-style decor. Vintage-inspired lighting like the Livex Lighting Williamsburgh Antique Brass Chandelier, traditional-style mirrors like the Costway Ornate Baroque Arched Mirror, and other decor pieces, like this National Geographic Antique Globe, are examples of smaller decor touches you can add in this style.